Note: This is an archival copy of Security Sun Alert 259408 as previously published on http://sunsolve.sun.com.
Latest version of this security advisory is available from http://support.oracle.com
as Sun Alert 1020487.1.

A security vulnerability in the Solaris Secure Digital slot driver
(sdhost(7D)) may allow a local user with access to the memory card
device to corrupt portions of kernel memory or contents of the memory
card (resulting in data loss), or potentially allow code execution in kernel
context. Kernel memory corruption may cause a system hang or panic,
which is a type of DoS (Denial of Service).

2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following releases:

x86 Platform

OpenSolaris builds snv_105 through snv_108

Notes:

1. Solaris 8, 9 and 10 and the SPARC platform are not impacted by this
issue.

2. Only systems with a certain memory card controller utilizing the Solaris Secure Digital slot driver (sdhost(7D)) on laptop motherboards are impacted by this
issue.

The Secure Digital Card device affected by this issue can be determined by running
the following command as 'root' user:

This issue may result in a system hang or
panic, and may read in or write out bad data to the memory card.
There are no predictable symptoms that would indicate the above issue
resulted in a kernel panic or data loss.

4. Workaround

To work around the described issue, the Secure Digital slot driver (sdhost(7D)) can be disabled by
running the following command as root:

# remdrv sdhost

5. Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following release:

x86 Platform

OpenSolaris based upon build snv_109 or later

For more information on
Security Sun Alerts, see 1009886.1.

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